The idea that there is some cabal of petroleum producers capable of stalling fusion is interesting, but for the most part the technology was good enough to stall itself until now, that and a miss placed focus on large tokamaks for decades.
When you look at the current leaders in the field (ITER notwithstanding) you have
Wendelstein 7-X, funded by grants in Germany, not an oil state
Helion: has private backing, some of it from silicon valley
TAE: similar tech funding as Helion, different investors
Lockheed Martin: nuff said.
General Fusion: private funding
EMC2: had US Navy funding. Not sure what it has now. Program went quiet after Navy funding.
Z Machine: funded by Sandia Labs
Joint European Torus: tied into ITER work now so will continue to survive awhile longer
LPP: survives off small donations and investments.
And not to sound like part of the lunatic fringe, but I do think there is some marginal look that could be given to a very few LENR researchers like Brillouin, but even if there is anything to those excess heat reports, it would not be as transformative a technology.
Even if one were to believe in some cabal set on destroying fusion before it gets a chance to develop, it's not like one can uninvent the basic concept. More has been learned bout high temperatore plasmas in the last couple of decades, as well as confinement as well including the first polywell plasma containment a few years ago. All this means you have multiple companies and non proffit organizations all tackling the problem from a variety of angles. They can't all be taken down, assuming that is what is wanted, which i doubt.
I do think in the not-so-long term, talking 20-30 years the rollout of fusion might be devastating to countries that have relied on petroleum and other fossil fuels as one of their main economic products.
That will have to be addressed. 
